Reno and Trina: In the Shadows of Love, Book 12

by Mallory Monroe

  He was a fraud. Reno could sense it. “What type of rude treatment did you receive?” he asked.

  “It was across the board,” Shaun said. “It was an awful stay. My wife left your establishment in tears.”

  “Which members of my staff didn’t treat you right?”

  Shaun smiled. “I wasn’t taking names. I didn’t think the burden would be on me.”

  “Well it is on you,” Reno made clear. “Somebody tell me they were mistreated at the PaLargio, then I need to know who mistreated them because it’s for damn sure that won’t happen again.”

  Shaun continued to smile, but Trina could see his uneasiness. With her, he was easy breezy. With Reno, he was on edge. “With respect, Mr. Gabrini,” he said, “it’s unfair for you to put the burden of proof on your guest. Who takes names at a time like that? Who does that? But you, with your body language especially, act as if you don’t believe me.”

  Reno wondered if this guy was from the moon. “I don’t,” he said, as if that was already obvious. He looked at Trina. “Don’t tell me you believe this fairytale?”

  “I didn’t say I believed it.”

  “Then why are you entertaining it?”

  “I looked into it. He and his wife, or at least he and a female, did stay at the PaLargio around the time he mentioned.”

  “And?” Reno asked, needing more than that.

  “And that was all I was able to confirm. The staff, everyone who served him at that time, denied mistreating him or anyone else.”

  “Of course they would deny it,” Shaun said. He felt as if he was losing control of the narrative. He wanted this encounter to be about Reno being unreasonable. Not about him being unreasonable. “But at least you looked into it, Mrs. Gabrini, and I appreciate that. And you did apologize. I thank you for that. That was all I was after. I don’t want to sue or anything like that. It was just a fact. We didn’t feel welcomed when we stayed at the PaLargio.” Time to cut his losses for now, he thought. “And I don’t feel welcomed here,” he added. “So I’ll leave now. I’ll find my wife’s gift somewhere else. Nice seeing you again, Mrs. Gabrini. Good day, Mr. Gabrini.”

  And without a second thought, Shaun walked out of the store.

  Reno watched his slick ass leave. Then he looked at Trina. “You believe that guy?”

  “I don’t know, Reno,” she said. “He was there. He said he and his wife were mistreated.”

  “And our people said they weren’t mistreated.”

  “I’m aware of that.”

  “Then why would you be helping him find lingerie and laughing and talking with a liar?”

  “He’s a customer. What was I supposed to do? Call the man a liar and throw him out? I don’t know if he’s lying and neither do you. Your staff isn’t perfect. Mistakes happen. People have bad days. They can be rude sometimes. It happens.”

  “Yeah, right,” Reno said.

  Trina shook her head, and was about to set him straight, but Amy walked up.

  Amy, at first, was walking swiftly and jubilantly. Until she saw Reno. She nearly stopped in her tracks.

  But Trina had already seen her. “Finished?” she asked.

  Reno looked where Trina was looking, and when he saw Amy coming toward them, his entire countenance changed. If he was annoyed with Shaun’s presence, he was angry with Amy’s.

  “What the fuck is she doing here?” Reno asked his wife.

  “I finished,” Amy said, as she continued her walk toward her new boss as if she didn’t hear Reno’s snide question. “I finished the paperwork.” Then she looked defiantly at Reno. “Hello, Reno,” she said to him.

  Reno didn’t respond. He just glared at her. Amy handed Trina the paperwork.

  “When can you start?” Trina asked her. “Will you need to give two weeks at McHale’s?”

  “Yes, but since I work the nightshift it won’t affect me here. I can start tomorrow if you’ll have me.”

  Trina smiled. “That’ll be great, Aim. I’ll see you then.”

  Amy smiled, glanced at Reno, and left the store.

  Reno looked at his wife. And his look was a combination of anger and shock. “You hired her?” he asked her.

  Trina turned to grab her clipboard, but Reno grabbed her arm and turned her back toward him. “You hired her?” he asked again.

  “Yes, Reno,” Trina said. “I hired her on a probationary basis.”

  Reno frowned. “Why would you do something like that? I fired her, Trina.”

  “Based on Quinn’s word alone.”

  “It wasn’t her word alone! My associates backed her up.”

  “The same associates she sleeps with?”

  “That’s none of your business who she sleeps with. I have to trust who works for me. I don’t trust Amy.”

  “Then don’t trust her, Reno. She’s not working for you.”

  “But why are you hiring her?”

  “Because she deserves to be heard too! When I was a waitress---”

  “Here we go,” Reno said.

  “When I was a waitress,” Trina continued, “people used to lie on me all the time too, and claim I was up to all kinds of shit I wasn’t even thinking about getting into. But nobody would listen to me. Nobody would believe me. I was just a voiceless nobody who didn’t deserve to be heard. What if the same thing is happening to Amy?”

  “What if it isn’t?” Reno responded.

  “What if it is, Reno? I listened to what she had to say. I heard her. I’m going to give her a shot. If it doesn’t work out, if she proves to be as bad as your associates claim, then I’ll get rid of her too. But they’re going to have to tell me more than what they told you. I don’t trust those partners of yours the way you do. I’m not taking their word for a damn thing.” Then Trina looked around. Customers were beginning to notice their conversation. She lowered her voice. “I don’t have a say in your personnel choices at the PaLargio---”

  “Sure you don’t.”

  “I don’t!” Trina had to lower her voice again. “I don’t,” she repeated, in a lowered tone. “I wanted you to get rid of Quinn, but you not only kept her, but promoted her. So I left it alone. It’s your hotel and casino. It’s your choice. But Champagne’s is mine. I run this. And I’m giving Amy a chance.”

  Reno wanted to set her straight then and there, but he knew it was not the place. “Get your purse,” he ordered. “I’ll wait outside.”

  Trina hated when he tried to handle her like that. But he wasn’t sticking around to witness her protest. He was already walking out.

  “That man,” she said with bite in her voice. But then she headed upstairs to her office, to get her purse.

  Outside, Amy was sitting in her aging Saab checking her phone messages. No-one phoned or text about any job interview. No return calls from people in position whom she once thought were her friends. Another day on the lonely downswing, she thought. But at least she had a real prospect now. At least she stood a real chance now.

  She smiled at the prospect and was just about to crank her car and take off, but the passenger door opened, and to her shock, Reno got in and sat down.

  “What are you doing?” she asked him.

  Reno just sat there at first, staring ahead. Then he looked at her. She could see the anger in his big, blue eyes. But she could see the hurt too. She knew hurt. She was hurt herself. “What’s your racket?” he asked her.

  Amy frowned. “What’s my what?”

  “What’s your game, Aim? We both know you’re playing one. So what is it? What’s the end result of this little scheme of yours?”

  Amy stared at the man she actually used to care about. “I don’t play games, Reno, and you know it.”

  “Yeah, you’re playing something. Bringing this shit around my wife? You’re playing something. What are you up to?”

  “I’m not up to anything.”

  “Is it blackmail? That’s what you think you’re going to do? Think your ass is going to blackmail me?”

  �
��That’s ridiculous.”

  “It will be,” Reno warned, “if you try that shit.”

  He looked at her beautiful face. At this woman he used to trust with his life. The betrayal cut him deep. He looked away from her, and looked straight ahead again.

  Amy’s look softened after she saw the concern in Reno’s eyes. Her anger was gone, but the way he hurt her had multiplied. “I heard Quinn got promoted,” she said, and then looked at him.

  Reno continued to stare straight ahead.

  Even though he didn’t respond to her, Amy didn’t back down. “What, Reno? She’s giving it to you that good?”

  Reno looked at her. Unlike hers, his anger was still there. “You may not understand who I am,” he said.

  “I know who you are.”

  “No, I don’t think so,” Reno responded with a knowing shake of the head. “Because if you had a clear concept about me, about who I am, then you would know exactly what will happen to you if you even think about working for my wife.”

  Amy’s heart pounded. “You can’t take that away from me, too, Reno,” she pleaded. “This job is all I have!”

  But Reno roared with anger. “You will not work for my wife!” he yelled. He was animated now. “You will not be around her, you will not have conversations with her, you will not have anything to do with her or I’ll kill your ass! You understand me, Amy? This shit real! This shit has consequences. Nobody’s coming between me and my wife!”

  Reno looked at her, and his look was so chilling that Amy felt a sudden rush of terror. And she knew, at least for right now, she had to back down. “You don’t have to worry about me, Reno,” she said. “I’ll stay in my lane.”

  Reno looked at her as if she had missed the entire point. “What the fuck I care about what lane you stay in? I don’t give a shit. Because I’ll be all over the highway, in and out of every lane, if you pull any stunts with my wife. And you won’t see it coming. You know why, Aim?”

  “I’m sure that’s a rhetorical statement.”

  “Do you know why?” Reno asked again.

  Amy shook her head. How could she have ever have loved this man? And she once did. Deeply. “Why, Reno? Why won’t I see it coming? Because I won’t have any eyes left to see? Is that the point you’re trying to convey?”

  “You’ll still have eyes to see,” Reno responded. “And you’ll still have every other body part too. You just won’t need them. Dead people never do.” Then Reno gave her a stare so cold it chilled her to the blood. “Stay away from my wife,” he ordered her. “Turn down that job, and stay away from her.”

  Reno got out of her car, and headed for his own.

  Amy, terrified, cranked up and sped away.

  CHAPTER SIX

  They were out back, on the patio that overlooked their three-acre estate, and dinner was soon to be served. Reno sat in one of the patio chairs, his legs folded, a glass of wine in his hand, while Trina sat on a swing bench, sandwiched between Dommi on her right, and Sophia on her left and all three of them were swinging. Jimmy and Val were also there, seated in patio chairs, both drinking beer, and Jimmy started laughing when the butler escorted Quinn to the patio.

  “I know why you came,” he teased her, forcing Val to poke him in the rib with her elbow. “What?” he asked Val. Then he looked at Quinn again. “You never broke bread at Mom and Dad’s house before.”

  Trina and Quinn exchanged a glance. It was no secret that there was no love lost between them, and if it was up to Trina she would never step foot in her home. But it was Reno’s home too, and he had invited her.

  “So why suddenly show up now?” Jimmy asked her.

  “I came to dinner before,” Quinn said.

  “At the penthouse, yes,” Jimmy responded, “but never here. Never at the estate.” Jimmy smiled again. “But I know why you’re here.”

  “You sound like a broken record, Jimmy,” Val said.

  “You’re out of luck, Quinn,” Jimmy said. “He didn’t show up. Sorry. All you have to keep you warm are us: the Gabrinis. Interesting folks, but surely not capable of giving you the kind of warmth you had in mind.”

  Jimmy laughed after he said this but his smile disappeared because Quinn didn’t just come to dinner because Mick was coming to dinner, she came to dinner with Mick.

  It was her time to smile when Mick stepped out onto the patio behind her, after taking a moment to compliment the chef on what smelled delicious to him. And Quinn rubbed it in. “What were you saying again, James?” she asked Jimmy. “I wasn’t quite sure what you meant.”

  Jimmy smiled and looked away. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, and Val, Quinn, and Trina laughed.

  “What’s so funny, Mommy?” Dommi asked.

  “Grown people stuff,” Reno responded to his son. “Don’t you worry about it.”

  “But everybody’s laughing,” Dommi explained.

  “And what’s that your business?” Reno explained. “Don’t you have enough to do being a kid? Now go play. And take your sister with you.”

  “Yes, sir,” Dommi said reluctantly as Sophia gladly got down from the swing bench and took Dommi’s hand. They went out into the well-lit back yard, to what Dommi called their real swing set.

  Val was the only one who had not met Mick before, and Jimmy introduced them. “This is my wife,” he said as Mick shook her hand. “Her name’s Valerie.”

  “Hello, Valerie,” Mick said and kissed the back of her hand. Val couldn’t help but smile when he kissed her. Jimmy knew Val had a thing for older men (he wasn’t entirely sure if that monster crush she used to have on his father had completely dissipated), and he gave her one of his what’s so funny looks. But he didn’t comment. Mick was a good looking guy, and even Jimmy could see how he had that same animal magnetism his father and uncles had, so he held his peace. For now.

  Reno stood and shook Mick’s hand just as the chef announced that dinner was being served. And when they all sat around the dinner table, Mick not only caught the attention of Quinn, who seemed giddy with excitement to have him as her date, but he also caught the attention of little Dommi too. He couldn’t stop staring at Mick. Reno noticed it before anybody else did. Not because others were inattentive, but because Reno knew his youngest son. He made it his life’s work to keep an eye on that little man.

  But when Dommi continued to stare, and when Mick caught him staring a couple of times, Reno spoke up. “What’s wrong with you, son?” he asked him. “What’s with the staring?”

  Dommi looked his big, sincere eyes at his father. “I don’t know him, Daddy,” he said, prompting Jimmy to laugh.

  “So what you don’t know him?” Reno responded. “You don’t know most of the people in this world. Does that give you a license to stare them down?”

  “A license?” Dommi asked, confused.

  “What gives you the right to stare the man down just because you don’t know him?” Reno attempted to clarify.

  But Dommi was still unsettled. “But who is he?” he asked his father.

  Jimmy decided to answer, knowing that his little brother would give him an interested answer if nothing else. “He’s Uncle Sal and Uncle Tommy’s uncle,” Jimmy said.

  Dommi: still confused. “Their uncle?” he asked.

  “That’s what I said.”

  “But. . .” Dommi’s eyebrows knitted.

  Jimmy smiled. Dommi had a way of dropping little gems when he wanted to. “But what?” he asked him.

  “Stop encouraging him,” Trina warned.

  “But Uncle Sal and Uncle Tommy are our uncles.”

  Jimmy frowned. “So?”

  “They are our uncles,” Dommi pointed out again. “They can’t have an uncle and be our uncles too.” Then he looked at Reno. “What’s an uncle, Daddy?” he asked him.

  Everybody laughed. “That boy,” Trina said, shaking her head.

  After dinner, Mick sat down in one of the chairs on the patio, accepted a glass of wine from one of Reno’s se
rvers, and spent the balance of the evening listening to small talk, talking very little himself, and staring relentlessly at Trina by barely looking at her at all.

  Reno was seated beside him with a now sleeping Sophia in his arms. He noticed Mick’s sly peeps at Trina, and the intensity behind those peeps, when nobody else seen him look at all. But Reno saw everything, and he saw it. But he also saw intense admiration in Mick’s look, not that lustfulness he saw in Shaun Connors and all those other men he had to set straight in the past.

  Looking with admiration was okay with Reno. Because, as he looked at Trina too, he understood why Mick would be impressed. Trina was in their expansive yard, running a race with Dommi, her shapely legs coming out of the shorts she wore as they simmered against the bright back lights, her ponytail making her look even more youthful and fresh than she normally appeared.

  “In a word,” Reno said to Mick as he continued to look at Trina, “she’s stunning.”

  Mick looked at Reno, since most men didn’t have the balls to speak that highly of their wives in front of other men, then he looked back at Trina. And he nodded his agreement. “Yes,” he said, unable to deny what was an obvious truth. “That she is.”

  “But what do I know, right?” Reno asked. “I’m unabashedly biased.”

  Mick smiled. “And unabashedly humble,” he said.

  Reno laughed. “Humility? Oh, yeah. That’s me,” he added just as Dommi ran onto the patio. He began patting Reno to get his attention. “Look, Daddy,” he said, still patting him although he already had his father’s attention. “I beat Mommy.”

  Trina, exhausted, made her way back onto the patio also.

  “You beat Mommy?” Reno asked his son as he watched Trina. “Good for you, Dominic.”

  “Don’t you believe that boy,” Trina said as she plopped down in the chair beside Reno. “He didn’t beat me. He won because I was tired.”

  “She’s slow,” Dommi said. He leaned against his father’s chair. “She’s slow and I’m fast.”

  Reno decided to milk it for all he could. “You outran her, didn’t you, Dom?”

  “Yes, sir,” Dommi responded. “It was easy.”